Don't know where it all went wrong, I remember at the 2012 Veulta (???) where Contador had a go at Quintana when he was doing a Sep Kus mountain dom for Valverde and valverde went off at Contador and defended him.
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I think it was a 2013 Tour, but I'm not sure...
Anyway, Valverde never had a problem with Quintana being a GT leader, nor Quintana had a problems with Valverde being with him at GT's. Problems escalated when Landa came aboard.
As you know two is a company, three is a crowd
I don't know maybe Unzue wanted to motivate Quintana with that Landa arrival, but he did the opposite.
100% I cant say for sure what happened, posters here would have a better idea than I, but it was a shame was happened. IMO Valverde was too consistent and held on for too long for a rider like Quintana who needed an all in team, but just an opinion. But Koronin has stated a few times how important team classification and points is too MovistarI think it was a 2013 Tour, but I'm not sure...
Anyway, Valverde never had a problem with Quintana being a GT leader, nor Quintana had a problems with Valverde being with him at GT's. Problems escalated when Landa came aboard.
As you know two is a company, three is a crowd
I don't know maybe Unzue wanted to motivate Quintana with that Landa arrival, but he did the opposite.
I suspect 2016 is where things started and 2017 they fully escalated with Quintana insisting on doing the Giro/Tour double and then falling apart in the Tour. Then his father making the comments about the team burning Quintana out and forcing him to do that double, which it was all over the media that Quintana was insisting on that double while the team wasn't so sure about it.
Then bringing in Landa brought everything to a head. I think the idea of bringing in Landa was to do one of two things, get Quintana to preform better or leave the team. At that point I don't think the team cared which would end up happening.
As for Mas, they'd been wanting to bring him for at least a year before they signed him. (Basically they weren't going to try to buy out his contract, so waited until he was free to sign with them).
Then bringing in Landa brought everything to a head. I think the idea of bringing in Landa was to do one of two things, get Quintana to preform better or leave the team. At that point I don't think the team cared which would end up happening.
As for Mas, they'd been wanting to bring him for at least a year before they signed him. (Basically they weren't going to try to buy out his contract, so waited until he was free to sign with them).
Here's his tweet at the end of la Vuelta/season.
View: https://twitter.com/alejanvalverde/status/1325493587484831748
View: https://twitter.com/alejanvalverde/status/1325493587484831748
As fans of Valverde, how are you guys managing the impact of his decline and your motivation to cheer for him? I wish he would've won a stage in the Vuelta, but notching another top-10 is cool b/c it again highlights and even further reinforces his consistency and durability across almost two decades of GT racing. I just hope [and I'm assuming he's returning to race again in 2021, yes?] that he doesn't suffer a precipitous decline that makes him look foolish and/or out-of-place in the peloton. But he probably has the self-awareness to stop before ending up in that situation, right?
Sad to see him struggle where he wouldn't have in the past. He may still be able to win with the right set of circumstances. Cheering him on isn't a problem, watching him struggle is hard. He did say in an interview yesterday that his role is changing some. Now that change started this year at the Tour where he started taking on the role of coach specifically for Mas. We've seen a few instances of Alejandro teaching/coaching Mas and Soler and also seen him looking very much like their father.
He said in an interview after yesterday's Vuelta stage that he would be back next season and was hoping the fans would be able to return as well. His contract has next year to race on it and 3 more years for basically doing whatever he wants to do.
12th in Tour, 8th in WC, 10th in Vuelta. Also top 15 in all the other 5 stage races he's done this year. He needs to decline A LOT more before we can even start thinking about him looking foolish or out of place in the World Tour Peloton.
Just looking at the rankings:
UCI: ranked 14th this year
PCS: ranked 22nd this year
CQ: ranked 35th this year
He is still a damn great rider.
That is the insane part of discussing Valverde in these terms. We're talking about this being a horrible year and a major decline and yet there are riders for whom those would be great results and a career year.
I think he's experienced enough to avoid that scenario. What I would like next year is to ride more aggressively, top 10's really means nothing anymore. He should chase couple of more wins if possible, like in that Orduna stage at Vuelta.
His worst GC result in a GT is 20th. I wonder how many years it would take for him to "reach" a level where he wouldn't be able to match that if he tried.
According to this article Valverde's plans are basically a Spanish calendar with the Olympics and Vuelta as the highlights of the season.
www.diariodenavarra.es
Calendario español y Vuelta a España para Alejandro Valverde en 2021
El ciclista murciano le dará un giro a sus objetivos la próxima temporada
2003 Worlds
He'd have to wait 15 years to finally win it. Yet would gain an additional 5 podiums between this one and his victory in 2018.
I came across this picture elsewhere today, and my first reaction was "wow Valverde hasn't aged a bit", before I realised he was the one on the left.
Yes, Alejandro is on the left. Igor Astrloa is on the right. Alejandro won the sprint for the silver medal.
This is Alejandro's family photo for wishing everyone Happy Holidays.
Here's a photo from the 2009 Vuelta, which the Francisco Perea took during that race. He shared on a Spanish cycling fan page and said I could share it here. (Picture is of Valverde in the gold leader's jersey and Basso)
According to this article Valverde's plans are basically a Spanish calendar with the Olympics and Vuelta as the highlights of the season.
Calendario español y Vuelta a España para Alejandro Valverde en 2021
El ciclista murciano le dará un giro a sus objetivos la próxima temporada
Sounds great! I love him in the early spanish races vs Lulu, just leave the Tour for the british teams. The Vuelta is the best GC race anyway. We need the vaccine so we can go and watch races in 2022 again.
According to this article Valverde's plans are basically a Spanish calendar with the Olympics and Vuelta as the highlights of the season.
Calendario español y Vuelta a España para Alejandro Valverde en 2021
El ciclista murciano le dará un giro a sus objetivos la próxima temporada
Spanish calendar sounds very good. He will surely go to the Ardennes classics too. Then work towards Olympics, with maybe a warm-up race before. Then Vuelta. I wonder if he with end will Vuelta or the Italian fall races. Probably depending on form and what he wants.
He and the team have so far only said he's racing in Spain and the Olympics. No idea if he'll do the Ardennes or not. However, you have a good point about racing something between March/April and the Olympics. There are some options to race.
Movistar is doing a training camp in Spain before the start of the season. Valverde seems to be happy and enjoying himself.
He's going home after this season
View: https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1352193571466719232
View: https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1352193571466719232
What a crappy first comment to this news.
That said, I do think it makes sense. He probably can't win races anymore and that must be demotivating if you had been able to do that your entire life.
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